After Friday’s busy day, with two rounds of racing, Saturday morning left just one final chance to improve one’s qualifying position with a low scoring round. The magic number at this race is “11,” as the top eleven drivers qualify directly into the final to be joined by three bump-ups from the lower main event. For the third straight day the racers were treated to warm, sunny weather with nothing more than a welcome breeze; just what race is this anyway? Not only that, but the track conditions continue to hold up well beyond what we’ve seen in previous years at this facility.

Team Kyosho’s Cody King, who got his first big win at the Silver State Nitro Challenge in the Pro Truck division a few years ago, put in his best run of the weekend in the third round of the division to edge Ryan Lutz by less than two-tenths of a second and improve his overall score by four points – when the final results were tallied, that moved him up on the grid by four spots! The battle for the overall TQ spot came down to Ryan Lutz and Jared Tebo, the two previous round winners, and Lutz’s second-place finish backed up his win and second from yesterday to give him the top honors for the weekend.

Ryan Lutz has been at, or near, the top of the charts since the first time the clock started for Thursday’s timed practice. In what has become a battle of minimizing mistakes and reducing the need for turn marshal assistance as the pace of the top drivers exceeds what is capable on the increasingly rough track, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ you’ll crash, but ‘when’ and how badly. With another second place finish for the round, Lutz wrapped up the overall TQ position.

Josh Wheeler had an uneventful trip to the grid at yet another Silver State. Having run for three different manufacturers over the last decade, the Missouri native is always in the hunt. He quietly put together top ten runs in both classes and drove his way to two more A-Main events, this time despite not having the huge team support that he did at The Dirt Nitro Challenge. Whether he was benefitting from experience, or the comfort of pitting in such a nice trailer, he did it again with two more top-ten starting positions.

Pro Truck – Round Three

1. Cody King – 13/7:18.889

2. Ryan Lutz – 13/7:19.080

3. Adam Drake – 13/7:19.605

4. Jared Tebo – 13/7:21.255

5. Ryan Cavalieri – 13/7:21.698

6. Drew Moller – 13/7:22.425

7. Dylan Rodriguez – 13/7:25.713

8. Mark Pavidis – 13/7:26.299

9. Jeremy Kortz – 13/7:28.411

10. Josh Wheeler – 13/7:31.257

Pro Truck – A Main lineup

1. Ryan Lutz – 2 points

2. Jared Tebo – 4 points

3. Adam Drake – 6 points

4. Cody King – 6 points

5. Mike Truhe – 8 points

6. Dylan Rodriguez – 9 points

7. Drew Moller – 9 points

8. Ryan Cavalieri – 12 points

9. Josh Wheeler – 14 points

10. Jeremy Kortz – 17 points

11. Billy Fischer – 18 points

Second in age only to Mark Pavidis (who is able to run in the 40+ division) among those who qualified for a Pro A-Main this weekend, Jeremy Kortz has been racing longer than some of his competitors have been alive. I caught up with him in his pit container to talk about the race, but the conversation turned onto subjects much bigger than just what happened in the third round of qualifying – you’ll just have to watch it. Kortz and TLR’s Billy Fischer traded bubble spots in both main events, but he’s in there!

Defending Pro Buggy champion Ryan Cavalieri hasn’t had the smoothest weekend of record, noting engine issues and the lack of a solid run in either class as the causes for his uncharacteristic mid-pack starting spots in both A-Main races. Always a favorite to win any race he enters, this is the two-time class national champion’s first time at Silver State running AKA tires.

Along with the top spot in both Pro nitro classes, Ryan Lutz took Top Qualifier honors in both Pro Electric Buggy and 4WD Short Course as well for a perfect start to the weekend. I asked Ryan what it’s like to share his focus across all four classes and what he thinks it’s going to take to wrap up the biggest wins of his career in Sunday’s long main events.

About the author

Associate Editor
Since receiving my first hobby-grade RC car as a holiday present from my father nearly 20 years ago, I've been fortunate enough to meet more people and experience more opportunities through the adventures I've had in the RC industry than I would've ever imagined. I've done it all - from working at a hobby shop, to being a factory sponsored racer, to working for some of the biggest brands in the industry. I've enjoyed each and every one of the dozens of kits I've built, hundreds of events I've attended, and thousands of laps that I've logged at race tracks around the world, and my passion is to share those experiences with other hobbyists so that they may find fulfillment in their own RC careers.